teacherkim

The Rodeway Inn that's now the Wolf Inn was closed by the city a couple years ago because a room was found literally caked in dog crap and they had repeated calls for illegal activities. I doubt that the owners (who appear to have rebranded with the intent of getting confused guests who thought they were staying at the Great Wolf Lodge) have changed their tune much. Ummmm.....ok, I concede THAT may actually be grosser than dead Mayflies in your hair. Gross.

One of the ride ops indicated to us that rain was an issue not heat (of course there is much more rain in Florida in the summer) They claimed rain sometimes interfered with the sensors. Now this was a ride op not a maintenance person so ......

One of the regular Universal vloggers reported that it was now running 10 trains which is near capacity (apparently it can run 11?) If that is accurate and they can keep it up, should help with wait times. I'm assuming they won't add fastpass until the Jurassic Park coaster opens.

MrFurious.......hello from another St Louis teacher! I echo most of the others in that 2 weekdays at CP is your best bet on crowds. Do keep in mind that in June you will hit the Mayflies.......for any in your family with long hair, have them tie it back or up. Brushing mayflies out of your hair is one of the most disgusting things I have ever done, including giving birth, Fastpasses are totally worth it in my opinion but of course you have to work within your budget. Unlike others on here I would advise you to at least check out the Breakers. Yes, it is expensive and you are paying mostly for the location BUT in my experience with a family it makes things so much easier. When one kid gets sick, tired, stomachache, whatever, etc, you have the option for some to go back for a room break and some to stay at the park. Then you don't have to face the situation of someone being stuck at the park and miserable or someone being forced to leave early and crying. Also, you have the pool and/or waterpark if someone needs an afternoon break and with the room right there it makes changing clothes with kids a lot easier. Plus the causeway can get backed up and the less you have to drive back and forth over it the better. Again, just my opinion but if you are just there a couple days, I would at least consider it. As far as KI, there are several hotels from every chain within 5 miles of the park. You know which brands you like, I would just google the options and go with your preference. KI is a lot easier to leave and come back if staying off property than CP. For sure try to get night rides on the Beast and Mystic Timbers! If you leave St Louis early morning you can get to KI by early afternoon and get a day and a half there easy (or throw an extra day in and go to HolidayWorld if you haven't been, you will drive right past it) If you leave on Monday you could do all weekdays. Also there is a really fun place to eat about another half hour past Holiday World and before you get to Louisville called the Overlook Cafe, google them, they have a website.

Well as the parent of a 16 year old I can tell you that your life will definitely change......as to whether or not it's a mistake, I haven't decided yet.

I'm concerned about what this could mean for education overall in the state though. We're already in the middle of the pack, I would want to slip into the bottom third of states. If you really want to be concerned about education, worry about the intense amount of testing and the soaring suicide rate amongst teens. At my son's well off suburban school this school year they have had one suicide, a 15 year old, and 8 serious attempts by other students. There are some serious issues that need to be addressed although at this point we are way off of the topic of this forum and there are probably better places for this discussion. Like every school board meeting.

Exactly, lol! Actually the law previously stated that there had to be 174 student attendance days, it now goes by hours, although most districts will still have at least 174. But by doing hours instead of days it allows districts in rural communities to have 4 day weeks, longer days but one less in the week.....which saves a ton of money. All the later start date means is that the end of the school year will get pushed back to the first week of June and high school finals will be in mid-January instead of right before winter break. Like it used to be about 20 years ago. Full circle.

Usually if they open on spring break week they still do a Friday. Also, the park should be open full time a little later in August next year. New law in MO won't allow schools to start more than 14 calendar days before Labor Day now, so no schools can start before Aug 24 next year. Which I personally am very happy about as a parent and a teacher.

It's a Wednesday but several school districts are on spring break that week. Although I was surprised at that opening date as well, particularly as my son and I are going down to Texas to hit the parks there and won't return until Thursday. Guess he won't be available the first two days, I thought we were safe.

Bert you should definitely consider Universal, there would be so much for Nick to do and see if he isn't feeling up to all the rides, and lots of rides that he could handle. Also, if you stay on property it would be pretty easy for him to go back to the hotel early and let you stay a bit longer at the park if he's getting tired. Now that we have been there a few times and did HHN this year we are considering it for a family Christmas trip next year since there will be stuff for Grandma and Grandpa to do there. We took Grandpa to CP last summer but he mostly walked around with his mouth hanging open I think he would ride some stuff at Universal. Interested to read about everyone's experiences during Christmas/New Years week.

And my district doesn't build in any snow days so that's 3 days we've already had off and have to add on to the end; and it's not even January yet. Bleecchh. On a better note, seems it will warm up a lot for the weekend, I have some friends with young kids that want to finally make it to HITP so I will probably go hang out with them while the boy is working, he's on all 3 days before Christmas.

I'll take "meh" right now. If I never see another snow flake again I would be fine with that.

Bert, yes weather, we are under a winter storm warning until midnight tomorrow night. 4-8 inches of snow expected today then some ice on top of that, then maybe more snow tomorrow afternoon. Yay.

Thankfully the park called it for the day a couple of hours ago. Grateful they didn't drag everyone in only to send them home an hour later

Sorry I was thinking he meant black Friday,they closed early that day and that Sunday due to weather. My bad. Or I guess Zach's bad going on a day they weren't open, lol.

Because it was no good or because they closed the park at early at 6?

And I know people don't think the 50th anniversary matters to most of the GP but I disagree. I think it is something they could hype up and get a lot of good press out of and it sure seems like they are gearing up to celebrate it.

Bert, I may be in touch with you soon about coming to Texas!! I'm happy about the carousel too! I knew it was in bad shape but admittedly didn't realize how bad until we rode it last June. I'm not sorry to see Tidal Wave go, I personally thought it was a bit of an eyesore and really not very popular. As far as what will replace it....not even going to speculate. We will find out when we find out. I gave the ride op in my house a bit of good natured grief about why he didn't know what was happening and he just rolled his eyes at me and said "like they tell us anything", lol.

Bert!! This thread was buried waaaay deep in my emails and I just saw that you finally finished the report.So glad that you enjoyed Grant's Farm and I echo the sentiment that you should try the Hill if you come back. Let me know your plans if it comes to fruition. The boy and I are still hoping to put together a Texas trip during Spring Break, I will let you know as soon as we have a definite date.

We were there a few weeks ago and were never asked for ID. Purchased it all through a package, stayed at the RP, and had tickets and express passes that fit into a cover on a lanyard; but had to redeem our tickets at the hotel or front gate. Both just had a bar code.

Zach ....glad you enjoyed the atmosphere at the park. I've come to appreciate it more. We too have been to Scarowinds and thought it was awesome. A few weeks ago we went to HHN at Universal and I have to admit I was a bit disappointed. I mean it was still a fun weekend in Orlando and the props/decorations and number of scare actors was top notch..........BUT, having to go through the houses conga line style and the huge number of non scare staff really diminished the experience for me. (I get why they do it, but it kinda sucked) Also, the loud techno pop music versus some good creepy Halloween music was not a favorite of mine either. Like you, I'm never really scared other than some momentary jump scares (I'm not in law enforcement but I have taught 7th grade for 27 years, I don't get rattled too easily, lol) but really enjoy a good atmosphere and that's where I think HHN fell short. Congrats on the baby! Fair warning, if you think the behavior of people bothers you now, just wait until you have to spend time with other parents in the kid's rides area at an amusement park and watch how badly some of those parents will behave. Oh and good thing you got a ride in on the Boss. The ride op that lives in my house informs me it did not open on Sat night and it's open days for the season are numbered due to temps.

One detail that I realized I forgot to report. The pre-show was not operational any of the 3 days we rode Hagrid's. I don't know if that is because something was wrong with it or if they just didn't turn it on until the line naturally backed up to that point. I'm kind of guessing the latter so they could minimize the early backup.

So, we returned from our weekend last night. We thoroughly enjoyed HHN. The props were all top notch and it was really nice to experience some haunted houses that were properly staffed and the atmosphere was awesome. I wish they did not have to send everyone in a steady stream, I get why they have to. Otherwise on busy nights the lines would be undoable. But it really does detract from the scary factor when you have a heads up from the commotion ahead of you that something is happening. Not sure if they do smaller groups on less crowded night or not. Also, the amount of non scare actor staff in the houses takes you out of the theming a bit. Again, I get why but too bad. Also, for future planning....we did not enter HHN either night until about 8:30 and by 12:30 were able to get in half the houses, one show and whatever rides were open. Relaxed and no frantic running from place to place or having to be stuck in the stay and scream. If you can afford it totally the way to go. We were told Sat night was a sell out but other than Stranger Things which had a 120 min wait, the next highest wait was 75 min. We never waited more than about 30 minutes with the express pass. Our experience with Hagrid's: We arrived at the IOA turnstiles by 8:15 Sat, Sun, and Mon mornings and got in pretty quick. We were some of the first in on Sun and Mon by the simple act of lining up in the middle queues where the umbrellas are and not under the queues on either side where the permanent structures are. The other lines were 20-30 deep and no one was at these. Funny what habits the people will have. On Sat we were told as we entered that Hagrid's was experiencing and extended delay so they lined everyone up in the Lost Continent and in front of the old Sinbad theater. Front of the line was under the arch right behind the talking fountain. They were very good about letting people go out to get food and use the bathroom and we all set up the refugee camp that the line became. The ride opened at 11. Sunday, same as Sat except it was 11:30 when it opened. Monday, ride was ready at park opening and we were on first train of the day. And then literally had Hogsmeade almost to ourselves for about 30 minutes which was incredible. Each day the wait went almost immediately to 60 min and then within a half hour was up to 90 min and then shortly thereafter at 120 for the rest of the day. I believe they closed the line about 3 each day but cannot swear to that exact time. Is it worth it? Well that is really subjective. For us, yes because we have ridden everything else multiple times and HHN didn't start of course until the evening. If you have one day and don't want to sacrifice the other rides, maybe not. I can tell you that this is one extremely fun coaster that we enjoyed immensely and from the reactions of the masses it is a huge hit. And I did a lot of talking to people while in line that A) normally didn't do coasters but were trying this one and B) had never waited this long for a ride before but stuck this one out. Take that info however you want. Of course there were employees all the way in asking people not to run and were absolutely being ignored, as I think they expected to be. No one was actually trying to make people walk. The fountain was quite entertaining for anyone near the front of the line. On Sunday when we heard them start to test a huge roar went up from the crowd and the fountain was all "what is that? what's happening behind me?" and when told he said "Oh sure, Hagrid gets all the press" Snarky. I liked it.

Thanks for the report. My son is determined to do the running of the Hagrid bulls at rope drop on Sat. I'm ok with that since it isn't at the crack of dawn and we are just flying in this evening, not doing HHN until Sat and Sun, so we should get to bed at a reasonable hour. I'll let everyone know how it goes.

Thanks for the info, we are staying at the Royal Pacific so can totally use the resort entrance. I was kinda wondering in case we run over to IOA to see the new Hogwarts Dark Arts show and then want to get back in to HHN quick, but not a big deal. I think since we have tickets to HHN for Sat and Sun night as well as express pass for both and based on advice here, we are going to take a short hotel break and have a relaxed meal at citywalk on Sat and go back in for HHN about 7:30 or 8 when it's nice and dark and the atmosphere is better. If we really don't get many houses in we can always use the stay and scream the next night.